Leon Kennedy woke in his bed. His eyes were wet, and he wiped the moisture away with the back of his hand. He couldn't remember the dream, but the feeling lingered. His chest ached as he sat up and got out of bed.
The morning wasn't much different from the day before, the commute his usual route. But something didn't sit well with him. He looked for something, peered around the corner of a street he walked on his way to work, as if the feeling would reveal itself down the next path.
The police station was barren this morning and he had time to grab coffee in the back room.
"Good morning, Leon." He was still learning names, but he knew the receptionist from the last time he'd come in. "How'd your first day go?" She asked.
"Great, though I still have a lot to learn." He ran a hand along the back of his neck.
"Don't let those guys push you around."
"I won't." He took his coffee and moved to the door when she spoke up.
"Hey, did you hear what happened? You really dodged a bullet," she said.
"Raccoon City. Didn't you get denied the job there? I think you were lucky," she said. He didn't expect the tight longing in his chest.
"Yeah. I guess, you're right." Leon pushed through the door and moved on with his day, longing forgotten.
On his way home that evening, he took the long route. It brought him into the city and back to his apartment. He stopped to pick up some take out from the Indian restaurant he liked.
With his bag in tow, he left the air conditioned establishment and into the cool autumn night.
"Oh, I'm sorry," a woman said when she bumped into him.
"That's ok," he said. She hurried off down the street, tucked into her coat. He had caught the faintest scent of her perfume. It was familiar, but he couldn't place it. His chest ached. He wished he'd have stopped her, but wouldn't know what to say.
That night, he lay in bed and dreamed of a city he'd never been to and a woman he'd never met before.
He woke the next day with tears streaming down his face. Leon took deep breaths in an attempt to cease the ache deep in his chest.
Because he had no plans for the weekend, he lay in bed longer than he normally would. He'd attempted to go back to sleep, to revisit the dream. To piece together the puzzle that plagued his sleep.
When he finally got up and dressed, he descended the stairs of his building to take a walk. The sky was overcast and the world dressed in gray.
He had his hands tucked into the pockets of his blue leather jacket. His eyes took in the scenes of the city, and the people within. Searching for something.
He took a side street and paused in front of the storefront door that had just opened. A pair of dark brown eyes met his. They widened when they took him in. Her hand was on the doorhandle, the other clutching a plastic shopping bag.
They stared at each other. His chest tight and jaw clenched in anticipation. It was as though the world waited for them, held its breath for their minds to work out the other.
"Do I know you?" He blurted out.
"I don't think so." The petite woman tucked some of her short black hair behind her ear. He had never been to the gun shop she had walked out of. He tried to imagine her shooting anything.
"Have a nice day," she said and started down the street.
"You too," he replied. He took a few steps. His thoughts swirled in a turbulent loop.
Talk to her. You know her.
"Hey," they said in unison. Both had turned toward the other.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Ada," she said. There was a weight lifted from his shoulders. She glanced at her watch. "I gotta go. Maybe I'll see you around, Leon."
"Yeah, maybe," he said. He watched her until she disappeared around a corner. Leon turned around and walked the direction he'd originally came.
As the sun shined down on him and the breeze cooled his face he wondered. He couldn't remember why he'd come out there. He had a strange suspicion that he'd just spoken to someone, but couldn't remember their face.
His chest held that familiar ache from the morning. That longing he knew intimately. "Who am I looking for?"
